Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Vox: They're On Obamacare, They Voted For Trump, And They're Already Disappointed
There have been no marches against the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare here. No raucous town halls. There was only one protest rally anywhere in the region. Photographs captured a solitary woman holding a sign. In an area that stands to lose a lot of health coverage under the GOP’s American Health Care Act, the silence does not equal endorsement. It is a sign, instead, of disappointment setting in among a group of conservative voters who only months ago were bubbling with hope for Donald Trump’s health care plan. (Sarah Kliff, 7/7)
The New York Times: America’s Hidden H.I.V. Epidemic
Early on a balmy morning last October, Cedric Sturdevant began his rounds along the bumpy streets and back roads of Jackson, Miss. Sturdevant, 52, has racked up nearly 300,000 miles driving in loops and widening circles around Jackson in his improvised role of visiting nurse, motivational coach and father figure to a growing number of young gay men and transgender women suffering from H.I.V. and AIDS. Sturdevant is a project coordinator at My Brother’s Keeper, a local social-services nonprofit. If he doesn’t make these rounds, he has learned, many of these patients will not get to the doctor’s appointments, pharmacies, food banks and counseling sessions that can make the difference between life and death. (Linda Villarosa, 6/6)
WIRED: A Radical Proposal For Preventing Rare Genetic Diseases
One morning, a few months ago, I didn’t wake up. My 29-year-old heart had suffered from a sudden and complete cardiac arrest as I slept. Sudden cardiac arrest kills nine out of 10 people who experience it, and it is a leading cause of death in the United States. But it isn’t supposed to afflict a healthy young person. Fortunately, my wife is a light sleeper, and unflappable under pressure. She came to my rescue, and saved my life by performing CPR until the medics responded to her 911 call. (Lee Cooper, 6/5)
NPR: A Daughter Chronicles Her Parents' Final Months With Cancer
There is a whole range of feelings that happen with the delivery of bad news. In my case, like many others, knees lock, the heart speeds up and the hairs on my arms get a funny little tingle. My circumstances, however, were a little less expected. When my dad told my husband and me that he and my mom wanted to come into Manhattan for dinner, I was excited to see them and quickly made a plan for an 8 p.m. dinner at Café Orlin — my favorite for Middle Eastern food. As soon as we sat down, I knew something was very wrong. (Nancy Borowick, 6/4)
Teen Vogue: Why Young People Don't Get Tested For HIV
Although HIV rates are declining among youth, they are still one of the most vulnerable groups at risk of infection. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2015, people ages 13 to 24 accounted for one in five new HIV diagnoses. But an infographic recently released by the AIDS Services Foundation Orange County (ASF) revealed an even more startling statistic: tens of thousands of teens and young adults living with HIV don't know their status. (Annamarya Scaccia, 6/5)
The Atlantic: Roger Severino, Trump's HHS Civil-Rights Head, On LGBT Issues
The media spends a lot of time tracking Donald Trump’s every move and chasing down members of Congress, but much of governing happens in these bland halls. Under Trump, HHS may see more changes than any other agency, in part because the president’s predecessor left his biggest mark here. As Congress stalls on passing a new health-care bill, the Trump administration can still fight Obamacare with revised regulations, rejiggered budgets, and lackluster enforcement. (Emma Green, 6/7)
The New York Times: The Doctor Is In. Co-Pay? $40,000.
When John Battelle’s teenage son broke his leg at a suburban soccer game, naturally the first call his parents made was to 911. The second was to Dr. Jordan Shlain, the concierge doctor here who treats Mr. Battelle and his family. “They’re taking him to a local hospital,” Mr. Battelle’s wife, Michelle, told Dr. Shlain as the boy rode in an ambulance to a nearby emergency room in Marin County. “No, they’re not,” Dr. Shlain instructed them. “You don’t want that leg set by an E.R. doc at a local medical center. You want it set by the head of orthopedics at a hospital in the city.” (Nelson D. Schwartz, 6/3)
Vox: The Opioid Crisis Changed How Doctors Think About Pain
This town on the eastern border of Kentucky has 3,150 residents, one hotel, one gas station, one fire station — and about 50 opiate overdoses each month.On the first weekend of each month, when public benefits like disability get paid out, the local fire chief estimates the city sees about half a million dollars in drug sales. The area is poor — 29 percent of county residents live in poverty, and, amid the retreat of the coal industry, the unemployment rate was 12.2 percent when I visited last August— and those selling pills are not always who you’d expect. (Sarah Kliff, 6/5)
